palm

SayPAHM/pɑm/UK/pɑːm/

Pluralpalms

Verbpalms, palming, palmed

14 meanings of palm

Practice

1
nouncountable
The slightly hollow inner surface of the hand between the wrist and the base of the fingers, or the matching surface on another mammal's forefoot.
He traced the lines across his palm, pretending to read the future.
She kneaded the dough with the heel of her palm.
UsageSet phrases: read someone's palm; have someone in the palm of your hand, meaning under your control.
Note
In Tennyson's "Elaine" (1859), Guinevere clenches her fingers “till they bit the palm,” while Paul Simon, in one of his songs, turns the open hand into a picture of longing and desire.
2
tropical treenouncountable
An evergreen tree of the family Arecaceae, found mainly in the tropics, topped by a crown of large leaves.
A row of palms lined the beachfront promenade.
The storm uprooted the old palm near the harbor.
UsageWhere the hand could be meant, palm tree is clearer.
3
hide in handverbtransitive
To hold or conceal an object in the hand, as in a sleight-of-hand trick or to take something secretly.
He palmed the dice and swapped them for a loaded pair.
Pickpockets palm small valuables before slipping into the crowd.
Similarconceal, hide, pocket, swipe, pilfer
4
branch (symbol)nouncountable
A branch or leaf of the palm tree, carried or worn in ancient times as a symbol of victory or rejoicing.
The returning soldiers were greeted with palms strewn across the road.
He raised a palm aloft as the champion's chariot rolled past.
Similarfrond
Note
Scripture gives this sense its best-known picture. In the King James Bible of 1611 a great multitude stands before the throne “clothed with white robes, and palmes in their hands.” The palm here is something carried, a token held up rather than a tree standing. That image of the victor's branch is what later gave the figurative “victory” sense.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
Revelation 7:9 in the 1611 King James Bible describes a multitude before the throne using the quoted wording. kingjamesbibleonline.org
The palms in this passage are carried tokens of victory. en.wikisource.org
The figurative victory sense extends the sense of a palm branch used as a victory symbol. en.wiktionary.org
5
push with handverbtransitive
To move an object by pushing it with the palm of the hand.
She palmed the heavy door shut behind her.
Goalkeepers are taught to palm hard shots over the crossbar instead of trying to catch them.
UsageAdd where the object goes: palm the ball away, over the bar, aside.
Similarpush, shove
Note
A goalkeeper's verb. Marc Vesty's BBC report of Stoke against Fulham (2010) has Asmir Begovic “palm the drive on to the post.” The open hand redirects rather than grips, which is what separates it from holding.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Marc Vesty wrote a BBC report about Stoke against Fulham in 2010. en.wiktionary.org
The report describes Asmir Begovic using the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

6
victorynounfiguratively
Triumph or victory, especially the distinction of being the winner.
UsageMostly in set phrases: take the palm, bear the palm, the palm went to someone.
Similarprize, victory, triumph, crown, laurels
Oppositedefeat
7
hold flatverbtransitive
To hold an object against the hand without bending the fingers around it significantly.
Few people can palm a regulation basketball.
He has such big hands that he can palm a basketball with ease.
Note
Here nothing is hidden. The hand simply holds an object flat against it, the way a large hand grips a basketball from above. A sentence like John palmed the ball can therefore mean this, the conjuror's concealing sense, or a push with the open hand. Only context decides which.
8
scan to enterverbtransitive or intransitive
To present one's palm as identification in order to pass through a door or security checkpoint.
To get into the control room, she has to palm the security pad and wait for the light to turn green.
She palmed the sensor and stepped into the secure wing.
UsageTakes the door or sensor as object, or in without one: palm the reader, palm in to work.
9
antler partnouncountable
The broad, flattened portion of an antler, as on a full-grown fallow deer.
The fallow buck's antlers spread into wide palms.
Snow gathered along the palm of the old stag's antler.
Note
The name comes from the shape: a broad blade with points standing out from its edge, like a hand with spread fingers. It combines with the part of the antler it belongs to. In Dana Stabenow's Hunter's Moon (1999), a bull is cut by a point on the “brow palm.”
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The antler sense is named for its resemblance to a hand with projecting fingers. en.wiktionary.org
Palm combines with names identifying parts of an antler, as in brow palm. grandslamclub.org
The novel describes a bull being cut by a point on a brow palm, using that exact term. en.wiktionary.org
10
nounhistoricalcountable
An old unit of length based on the hand, either its breadth (about three inches) or its length from wrist to fingertips.
Medieval builders used the palm, roughly the breadth of a hand, to set out small measurements.
He found it to be ninety-five fathoms wide, and five palms deep at a place of average depth
1931, Herbert Eugene Bolton, Outpost of Empire: The Story of the Founding of San Francisco
Similarhandbreadth
Note
A measure from before standard units, now best left to history. Anyone giving a horse's height today says hands, not palms. Herbert Eugene Bolton's An Outpost of Empire (1930) shows it in an older setting: a channel “five palms deep,” with its width given in fathoms. An old figure in palms needs its context before it can be converted, because a palm could mean either the breadth or the length of the hand.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
The palm is a historical hand-based measure. en.wikipedia.org
The work first appeared in 1930 as An Outpost of Empire, volume I of Anza's California Expeditions; Outpost of Empire was the 1931 republication. archive.org
Use 1930 for first publication. digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu
The work contains the exact phrase five palms deep. en.wiktionary.org
The passage gives the waterway's width in fathoms. archive.org
Palm could denote either a handbreadth or a hand-length measure, so conversion requires context. en.wikipedia.org
11
verbobsoleteUKtransitive
To bribe someone with a secret payment.
He never again appeared in the house where practices of this description are carried on every night, and where officers of the police are palmed (bribed) for their forbearance.
1845, George Smeeton, Doings in London
Note
Bribery pictured as coin pressed into a waiting hand, the same figure as grease someone's palm. George Smeeton's Doings in London (1828) speaks of police officers “palmed (bribed) for their forbearance,” explaining the slang word even then.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Grease someone's palm means to bribe someone. en.wiktionary.org
George Smeeton compiled Doings in London. en.wikisource.org
Doings in London was originally published in 1828. en.wikisource.org
The book describes police officers as palmed and immediately glosses the word as bribed. en.wiktionary.org
12
noun
In the Boy Scouts of America, an award earned after the Eagle Scout rank for each further five merit badges, before a Scout turns eighteen.
13
noun
A metal disk fixed to a strap and worn on the inside of the hand, used to push a needle through canvas, as when sewing sails.
14
noun
The broad, flattened face of an anchor's fluke, on the side turned toward the shank.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of palm apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2, 4, 6

Latin palma, which meant "palm-tree," "palm-branch," and "palm of the hand," goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "flat." Old English took it as palm or palma, with the tree and branch senses, and it became Middle English palme. Dutch palm, German Palme, and Icelandic pálmi are related.

Meanings 1, 3, 5, 7–11

The word traces to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "flat," which gave Latin palma, meaning the "hand-breadth" or the "palm of the hand." Old French made this palme, paume ("palm of the hand, ball, tennis"), and Middle English took it as palme, paume. Cognates include Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē), Old English folm, and Old Irish lám ("hand").